As casino plans become reality across state, New Bedford still in talking phase

Sunday

Mar 9, 2014 at 12:01 AMMar 9, 2014 at 5:42 AM

KG Urban Enterprises and Mayor Jon Mitchell continue to dance around the benefits of a downtown waterfront casino, with the New York-based developer trying to allay the concerns of the skeptical executive.

STEVE DeCOSTA

KG Urban Enterprises and Mayor Jon Mitchell continue to dance around the benefits of a downtown waterfront casino, with the New York-based developer trying to allay the concerns of the skeptical executive.

The developer was reticent to discuss the nature and status of its “continuing discussions” with Mitchell.

“As you know, KG always refrains from characterizing the nature or details of any conversations we have with Mayor Mitchell and members of his administration,” the company said through spokesman Andrew Paven.

The mayor articulated his concerns in a two-part essay published in The Standard-Times in December.

“What casino developers can expect is a careful, cautious approach that is focused on the long-term interests of the city,” he said in the guest essay. “The bar, by necessity, is going to be set high.”

And it remains high today, even as he hears the casino pitches.

“I think I made it pretty clear in my oped that I'm open to discussion,” Mitchell said. “If there proves to be a viable market in New Bedford, my door will be open to anybody that can address my concerns.”

KG continues to try.

“We appreciate his generalized concerns about urban casinos developed without sensitivity to location and connection to street grids, existing business and community,” Paven said. “We are focused on convincing the mayor that the principles behind the success of more recent and single casino redevelopment projects like KG's Bethlehem Steel redevelopment can be applied in a successful and sensitive way in New Bedford wherein the economic engine of the casino development benefits its surrounding community.”

KG was the lead developer of the Bethlehem Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pa., which rose from the ruins of an abandoned steel mill about a mile from the historic city's downtown. A Standard-Times reporter sent to the city in October found widespread support for the casino and related arts developments to the point where, at a hearing on Oct. 14 to consider the renewal of Bethlehem Sands' license, no one testified in opposition.

Mitchell made his own fact-finding trip to Bethlehem in January and said: “I concluded a number of things.”

One was that development of the casino offered “an effective way to clean up a brownfields site, although it's only partially clean.”

Much as the old steel plant, the abandoned Cannon Street power plant where KG wants to build its New Bedford casino is heavily polluted.

“I think Bethlehem is a lovely city,” Mitchell said. “The casino itself is not nearly as beautiful as the city. It's not situated right on top of the downtown.

“Both the current mayor and one of his predecessors made it clear to me that if it had been built right by the downtown they would not have supported it.”

Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez, who said he cast the deciding vote in the City Council when the casino received 4-3 final approval, said his position wasn't that clear-cut.

“I never said I would have voted no,” Donchez said. “I said it would have been very difficult for the casino to pass in the heart of our downtown.”

From his experience in Bethlehem, Mitchell said: “It's pretty clear that people don't leave the casino. It's clear that there isn't much in the way of benefit to local retailers.

“There's an Italian restaurant within walking distance of the casino,” where he went for dinner, Mitchell said. “They're pretty emphatic that the restaurant is just barely hanging on.”

Anna Molinari, general manager of Molinari's, said she remembered meeting Mitchell and shaking his hand that night, although she said she did not have a conversation with him.

Asked about Mitchell's comment, Molinari said: “The ironic part of that is that this is our best year yet. We're definitely doing way better than just holding on.”

The restaurant only has been open three years, she said, so it's impossible to compare business pre-and post-casino. The Sands opened in 2009.

Because the restaurant is “super conveniently located” near the casino, “we get a lot of business from people going to shows at the (casino's) event center,” Molinari said.

Mitchell said it's been difficult to judge the effects of a downtown casino in part because “One of the things we have not done, we haven't spoken to any casino operators, so it's hard to know what might be in the offing.”

Paven said the skepticism of the mayor and the uncertainty of whether he would endorse a downtown casino has made it hard for KG to find partners.

“The mayor's published essays didn't help our efforts,” he said, adding, “We and our bankers at Maquarie are in ongoing discussions with potential investors and operators, but (are) not prepared to go into any further detail at this time.”

Mitchell faces potential political fallout from his decision on whether he decides to negotiate a host community agreement for a casino.

“My sense is that the mayor is entertaining the idea,” said Clyde Barrow, who has surveyed the New England gaming scene for more than a decade as director of the UMass Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis. “He's still a skeptic. He wrote that big two-day editorial in which he raised a lot of significant and very important issues, none of which I don't think can't be addressed in a host community agreement. But I don't think he's necessarily going to say no.”

City voters have approved a casino referendum in the past and “We know that New Bedford is going to vote for it 3 to 1,” Barrow said.

City Councilor David Alves, a long-time supporter of gaming, agreed that “it's still a possibility” Mitchell would accept a casino.

“I think he's slowly starting to see reality, he's starting to see the financial situation the city is in,” Alves said. “There's no other major new revenue source coming in.”

Mitchell said he's taking cues on the issue from city residents.

“I've spent a lot of time eliciting the opinions of residents of our city so that I have the full benefit of their opinions,” he said. “For the most part, I think people are more or less in the same place. It depends. Nobody wants to see our waterfront or our downtown harmed.”

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